It’s tempting to mistake Qigong Theory for actual practice.
There is no substitute for actual practice. In fact, there really is no theory when there is real practice.
What’s the secret?
Simple, there is just practice.
That’s it. Simply practice it as much as you can. Not once a day, not once a week. As much as you can. How about 5 times a day? Why not? Why set a schedule? Just practice, all the time, whenever you remember.
For instance, taking one nice deep breath is Qigong practice. You take it for granted and probably rarely pay attention to your breathing. Are you paying attention to it now? Of course not, you are reading this post. Take a minute and focus on one deep comfortable breath. Now….
The problem is we are constantly focused on something throughout the entire day. Rarely do we take any mental breaks in the day whatsoever. “But I have things to do”. Sure, but what about all that time in between? You are thinking, about something, past, present or future. Present is ok. Past and future very wasteful.
Real Qigong practice is setting the mind down for a few moments and feeling your vital energy circulating.
Real Qigong is taking a full, deep breath and being fully aware of yourself in the present.
Real Qigong is relaxing the body, mind and spirit in an uncontrived way, like it’s nothing special, rather it’s simply the most natural way to exist.
So the best way to learn Qigong? First, you have to define what it is, which I just did.
See, most people think Qigong is this “thing you do for 1 hour a day, you start with the warmups, you finish with the movements, and then you feel good and move on with your day”. No, not really.
Qigong should be done spontaneously, without this special effort of saying “I’m going to practice now”. You let go so much that the fact that you’re practicing isn’t even a point to discuss or notice. You simply exisit for a moment, without thinking about it, without analyzing it, without even remembering it.
Just experience it.
When you feel this, an entirely new world opens up. It’s a world that includes the reality that a majority of us live in, but from a different perspective. It’s only one piece to the giant puzzle.